Pride Picnic 1999 a success

by Michael Mahler

First of all, many thanks to everyone who helped make the Pride Picnic a success. I am missing names here, but thanks to Brian and Dave for cooking and cleanup, Tina for helping with cooking, Helen and Georgia for clean up and running the 50/50, Coca-Cola for donating pop, Uniflow/Coldraft for donating ice, Tops-Eastside for making a donations towards groceries, and my husband Micheal Miller for stuff too countless to name. There were many people who helped with clean up, set up, and who made donations whose names I did not catch. Many thanks to the 100-120 people who attended and made the day such a pleasure!

WICU TV 12 (NBC) and WSEE TV 35 (CBS) both ran stories on the Pride Picnic on each of the 6 PM and 11 PM news broadcasts that night. Both pieces were perceived by many in our community as positive and non-sensational and fair. You might want to contact the stations to thank them.

TV 12 interviewed Richard Guy, John Bebko, Tina Phillips and Jeremy Snyder. At least 3 of these had not appeared on camera before, but everyone who was interviewed used their full name. The folks who saw them said that they did a great job. What a wonderful sign of the times that everyone could speak fully identified.

We've been taking "family portraits" at every pride event in the Erie area and publishing them in EGN since 1995. The number of people willing to stand proudly before the camera has steadily increased since then - to a head count of 50 for this year's picnic.